Adoption!
by Liquid Fire
Summary: Inu-yasha has always hated Kagome, his ADOPTED sister. She's always been so loved, so cool, so...perfect. When his parents go on holiday and they're left alone together, will things suddenly change? (Written by Itadakimasu & Lady Cassandra) REAL ch.3 UP!
1. An Explanation

Hello everyone, Lady Cassandra here.   
  
As you can probably tell by the date in the story heading, this fic hasn't been updated for a very long time. I apologize and take full responsibility for this fact. For some reason that is still unknown to me I dropped out of touch with Itadakimasu, although she was desperate to finish this story for you dear readers. I have recently begged her forgiveness and all is well, although I never deserved to be forgiven. Anyhow, I am on my way to redeeming myself. I promise you that I will sit at my computer today until I have up to chapter 10 edited and updated, because that was the original plan. From then on out Itadai-chan and I will write back and forth until this story is complete. Thank you everyone for being so patient with me!   
  
Happy reading.   
  
P.S- We have read and made note of everyone's comments in the reviews and in our joint e-mail account. You guys have been so helpful in every way. Thank you so much for both the compliments and the constructive critisism, you're so great! 


	2. Birth of Life, Death of Hopes

Disclaimer: Neither I nor Itadaikimasu claim any right to Inuyasha. All recognisible characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Enjoy.  
  
----  
  
Mr. Higurashi rushed his wife over to the emergency room, panting heavily while pushing her wheelchair. She was about to give birth. It was her first child.  
  
He was scared out of his wits.  
  
"Quickly, quickly, if you want her to survive!" the nurse beside his wife cried. She was holding an IV tube up in the air. He felt sick as he watched the small drops of blue liquid trickle slowly into his beloved wife's arm.  
  
Something had gone wrong with the pregnancy, terribly wrong. It seemed as though the baby was intwined in her womb, almost choked. It had stayed in that position for over 24 hours. The woman's life was on the line. Tears ran down her husband's face while she cupped it gently, telling him that everything was going to be all right. It was the irony of it that made him smile. Usually he was the optimistic one and she the pessimistic of the two, yet the situation was completely turned around now. By the time he had finished rambling on in his own thoughts, they had reached the delivery room. The young nurse beside his wife signaled the two other people that were in the room to lift the woman up onto a stretcher. With a few struggles, they managed to do so. One of the nurses was about to close the door on Mr. Higurashi's face when she was interrupted rather rudely by him.  
  
"What do you think you're doing? I have a right to be in that room!" he shouted out in a perplexed voice, weren't fathers usually WANTED in the delivery room?  
  
"I'm sorry, Mr. Higurashi, normally you WOULD be in that room, but right now, the situation is too critical to have you inside there. You might distract her attention, and she would be focused on you instead of the baby and what she is doing." The nurse tried to calm him down, keeping her voice and tone hushed so that almost nobody could hear their conversation.  
  
"What the. . .?" Mr. Higurashi threw his hands in the air. He tried to grab the nurse's arm as she went inside the delivery room once again, but she was too quick. She turned around once more at his attempt to stop her, fixing him with a cold glare that sent shivers up his spine.  
  
"This area is off limits, Mr. Higurashi, you are not allowed in here. If you do somehow manage to set your foot inside, you will be immediately detained by medical staff and we will be forced to send you to the police. Have a good day, and we will try our personal best to save both the baby and its mother." The nurse slammed the door in his face, leaving him devastated. No matter what happened, the baby being born was going to be his, and if his wife or child were going to die, didn't he have a right to be there at their last moments? To think that he would have to leave them at this critical stage, when he had been there with her through all the long months of the pregnancy. . .  
  
Mr. Higurashi sat down on the hard plastic chairs in the waiting area while holding his head in his hands, trying not to rip the few pieces of hair he still had out. He let loose a disappointed groan and decided to walk around the hospital a little to calm his moods down. As he was about to pass the coffee machine, he saw a little room, full of newly born babies, wrapped in tiny clothes and pink or blue blankets. He stared into the window, his sweaty palms pressing against the cold glass.  
  
"God, please, let them survive! They are my life!" Mr. Higurashi pleaded towards the sky, hoping for the best. He knew there was absolutely nothing he could do but pray. "I'm not asking for too much, am I? I haven't done anything truly evil in my life. I'm just a normal person, but every person needs another to love," He paused for a moment in his prayer to choke back an anguished sob. "So please, spare their lives, even if you decide to take mine somehow." He closed his eyes gently and walked away from the room full of babies, deciding to sit down and stay still at the waiting room. That way, if anything happened, he wouldn't be very far away.  
  
-----  
  
(in the delivery room)  
  
"Quick! Give me that blade! We have to perform a caesarian!" The head doctor shouted out to the nurse beside him. He was completely aware that the operation was going to be risky, but it was their best chance.  
  
"Here? NOW? But that operation could kill her!"  
  
"Don't question my orders! If we decide to deliver the baby the natural way, she would be even more in danger!"  
  
"May I ask why, doctor?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, clenching her teeth because of the pain that was twisting inside of her.  
  
"Delivering a child that way would take a long time, longer than a caesarian. The child would have been inside you for too long without oxygen, and you will have had a toxic reaction. By then, it may have been strangled to death in your womb as well. Don't worry, you'll be fine."  
  
The doctor knew though, that the woman was far from all right, but he guessed she knew it too. He could see her smile bravely at him as she nodded her head. Thoughts of the little newborn girl he had at home flashed through his head, forming a grim smile on his face. No one deserved to have their child taken away from them. His mind raged with determination as he adjusted the mask that would supply the courageous woman on the table in front of him with anesthetic.  
  
-----  
  
Mr. Higurashi couldn't take it anymore. He walked over towards the doors of the delivery room and stood outside of them clicking his fingers, something he always did when he was nervous. He sighed in frustration and begged to all the gods he knew of for the doors to open for just a second so he could at least get a glimpse of what was going on.  
  
"Excuse me sir." A nurse said as she tapped him on his shoulder. "But waiting outside the doors like that is prohibited."  
  
This one was the final straw.  
  
"I DON'T CARE IF IT IS PROHIBITED OR NOT! MY WIFE AND MY UNBORN CHILD ARE STUCK IN THERE AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON! THEY MIGHT BE DEAD FOR ALL I KNOW!"  
  
He stopped to try and control his rage, but he found that he couldn't. Chest heaving from his ragged attempts at breathing, he continued to take out his frustration on the poor nurse.  
  
"I THINK IT'S BEST IF I STAND OUT HERE BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW IMMEDIATELY, NOT ONE MINUTE LATER, NOT ONE SECOND LATER, IF ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED!"  
  
The nurse backed away, surprised at his reaction, and something quite unexpected happened.  
  
She smiled.  
  
"That's fine Mr. Higurashi. But we'd prefer it if you tone down a little!" she walked away from him, apparently about to continue her duties, when he called out to her, still stunned at her response.  
  
"T-thanks, ...This really means a lot to me."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Suddenly, a scream could be heard from the delivery room. It was high- pitched, and Mr. Higurashi swore the sound of it alone could break ear drums. Just as quickly as it came, it died down again. Mr. Higurashi frantically turned around again expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.  
  
The doctor came out, peeled off his blood covered gloves, and invited him into the room.  
  
"Where is she?" Mr. Higurashi asked.  
  
The doctors and nurses looked down fallen. His heart felt like it had broken into millions of pieces and scattered across the world, never to be found again. A strangled noise tore itself from his throat, and tears made a slow path down his rough, unshaven face. He had lost her... his beautiful wife. Full of spirit and love. Or, maybe it was their child. An innocent being that never had a chance to experience life. Or... Oh God. Could he have lost both of them? He remained speechless with horror.  
  
Suddenly the staff's faces brightened. Pitying frowns were replaced with happy smiles.  
  
"CONGRATULATIONS! You're now the father of a beautiful baby boy. We'll show you to the room of your wife and son."  
  
Mr. Higurashi sighed in relief, tears forming yet again in his dark brown eyes. He wiped them away with his palm and shook the doctor's hand furiously while thanking him again and again.  
  
"Thank you. Just... thank you. May I please ask what the name is of the man I owe my family's life to?  
  
"Of course, Mr. Higurashi, although I think you're giving me too much praise. Your wife did most of the work," He said modestly, smiling at Mrs. Higurashi. "I am Ishizaka, Mizone Ishizaka. And you're very welcome."  
  
-----  
  
Mr. Higurashi walked inside his wife's room while congratulating her on giving her first birth. He looked at the tiny child that she held in her hands fondly. His face was so delicate, his hands so tiny. He looked like a doll, but he sure wasn't as quiet as one!  
  
"What should we call him?" he asked his wife.  
  
"Why don't you decide a name?" she suggested. Her husband had always been the good one at names.  
  
"No, I think you should. After all, you gave birth to him."  
  
"Don't you forget it," she said with a sly wink. Her face suddenly turned thoughtful. "When I was a child, there was this legend that I heard so often of a boy from Japan and a girl from a faraway country and time. When I heard that story and its lovely ending I said to myself that if I grew up and had a child of my own, I would name him or her after the boy or girl in that story. But I can't remember what the names were..." She had a faraway look in her eyes, as if trying to see something that was not there, grasp something that was unreachable.  
  
"Do you mean the Feudal Fairy Tale? Is it that legend? The one with the boy that was half human, half youkai?" he asked.  
  
"Yes! You know it too?"  
  
"Of course. I grew up with a father that was obsessed with legends after all."  
  
She chuckled softly as she remembered. Her face soon grew serious again. "Do you know the boy's name?"  
  
"Yes, it was. . .Inuyasha."  
  
"Then Inuyasha it shall be." She tickled the chin of her newborn son and smiled at the chuckle she got from him. The doors whooshed open suddenly, interrupting the perfect moment. Mizone Ishizaka calmly entered and asked Mr. Higurashi to step out of the room.  
  
"Mr. Higurashi, there's something that I must discuss with you." The doctor had a serious look on his face.  
  
"What is it?" he asked questioningly.  
  
"It's your wife. She doesn't know this yet, but, .....well," He hesitated.  
  
"Spit it out!" Mr. Higurashi was getting impatient.  
  
The doctor sighed and continued. "While we were operating we found that she had a tumor growing inside of her. That's why the baby's position was not usual. We were forced to remove it."  
  
Mr. Higurashi let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "Than everything's o.k, right?"  
  
"That...That's not all, Higurashi-san. We also had to take away some of the organs it had managed to spread to. She can't bear any more children."  
  
"A tumor? Is she going to be all right? And what do you mean she can't bear any more children? I want an explanation!" Questions were pouring out of him like a river, but he couldn't stop.  
  
"Calm down Mr. Higurashi, the tumor was entirely benign. She will be fine in that respect. Unfortunately, because of the loss of a few organs, it will be impossible for her to have any more children. It's not that she's not allowed to, she just simply will not be able to."  
  
Mr. Higurashi was shocked at the mention of this. He and his wife had always wanted to have many children to share their love with, but their dreams were now shattered. He couldn't bear to tell his wife... She had been the most enthusiastic of the two to have a large family. She would be devistated.  
  
"Fortunately, sir, there is a preferred alternative." The doctor said.  
  
"And what is that? I'm willing to try anything, anything at all."  
  
"Adoption."  
  
------ 


	3. She Never Compromises

Sorry about the lack of anesthitic in the last chapter... I was kinda freaked out by that myself. @_@ I'm trying to keep things as close to the original story as I can, though, so I'm afraid that just had to stay in there. Sorry!  
  
Here you go! Reformatted and in perfect condition. Enjoy! (Oh yeah, because of popular demand I took the little star-thingies (*) out of the curse words and researched the adoption process a bit. You were right, the version of adoption Itadai-chan had out was a bit hard to believe. I fixed it! Woohoo! Happy now? Kids today... Jeeze...^_^)  
  
With (un)conditional love (But only if you review!),  
  
The I-would-NEVER-hold-off-the-next-chapter-until-you-give-me-100-reviews ^_^ And ever lovely, Lady C.  
  
(P.S: I know I didn't update in like, forever. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! WAA!!! *dodges flying cat*  
  
Inuyasha: Will someone put that cow out of its misery?!  
  
Lady C.: Awww..... Inu-baby, I didn't know you cared!  
  
Kagome: Buyo? BUYO?!?! WHERE IS MY KITTY?!  
  
Inuyasha: Ummmm.....  
  
Lady C: *points to Buyo, who miraculously landed gracefully as only a cat can.... on his back* HE DID IT!  
  
Kagome: BUYO! I love you, my kitty lumpkins!  
  
Inuyasha: *grumbles* Never did like that stupid cat.  
  
Kagome: *narrows her eyes dangerously* Inuyaaassshaaa.....  
  
Inuyasha: *gulp* Yes, Kagome?  
  
Kagome+Lady C.: SIT!!! SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT!!!!  
  
Always wanted to do that..... ^_^  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
[2 and a half years later]  
  
Mr. and Mrs. Higurashi walked slowly while each held one of their son's small hands. They were at an adoption center that was situated on the edge of town. They had decided to come here because babies at the center were almost never adopted. They had to stay in the place for almost their whole lives. It was too far away from the city for most people looking to adopt to bother with.  
  
"Come in! We don't usually have visitors." The lady at the front desk smiled at them and offered them a seat, but it was declined.  
  
"Well? Are you searching for a girl or a boy?" she asked them.  
  
"A girl."  
  
She grunted as she lifted a stack of papers from the mound next to her computer. "You'll have to fill these out." She said, dropping them onto the stunned Mrs. Higurashi's lap with a groan.  
  
"Here's a pen." The lady whistled cheerfully as she pointed out the places to sign.  
  
"There. And there. Oh, don't forget there. There too. And there..."  
  
Mr. Higurashi cleared his throat loudly. "Exactly how long will this take?"  
  
She winced, cracking her gum. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask. It'll be about... *fish muphsl*." She mumbled softly.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
There goes another one out the door... she thought sadly. "I said it'll be about six months. Give or take a year.... or two. The adoption process is very slow."  
  
"Okaeri," Mr Higurashi said warningly, shooting a meaningful glare at his wife. "We don't have time for this. It's hard enough for me to find work enough to feed you and little Inu-Yasha. We don't have time to sit at home filling out forms for a child that's just going to cost us more money!"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi gave him the fiercest death stare she could muster. "I'm getting myself a baby. A beautiful baby girl," She growled. "And if you don't like it, too bad. Go hug a tree."  
  
The receptionist looked up at her curiously for a moment, but soon shrugged and snapped her gum again in a bored fashion. "So anyway..... Oh, you forgot to sign there, ma'am."  
  
"I could sign something," He offered cautiously. When both women snarled at him viciously he jumped back to the safety of about 10 feet away. *Boy, they're scary when they're angry.* Mr. Higurashi thought as he glanced down at his son. The boy by his side seemed as frightened as he was. Wrapping his arms around Inuyasha's waist and hoisting him up to his shoulders, he sighed and decided to do the only thing he could at the moment.  
  
*An oak? Maybe I could, but I'll need a thinner one for Inu. Willow, perhaps?*  
  
He looked at his son's strong arms wrapped in a stranglehold around his neck. *I....*gasp* think he'll be o.k.....*wheeze*.....with an oak.*  
  
"What're we doing, Dad?" The young Inuyasha asked. He cocked his head to the side in the ultimate expression of curiousity and cuteness, his strange silvery-blonde hair falling over one golden eye.  
  
"Son, we're going to go hug trees."  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Mrs. Higurashi was feeling miserable. She had just swam through mountains of paperwork with the happy lady from hell, yelled at her beloved husband for some trivial thing she couldn't remember anyway, and was STILL no closer to finding her perfect baby girl.  
  
*It's just not my day..* She sighed.  
  
She could practically feel her eye twitch as the receptionist popped up from the endless sea of files. "I got it! I know you're gonna love this one. Mrs. Higiyasho?"  
  
*If she mispronounces my name one more time I'm gonna beat the ship shagging shingles out of her!*  
  
Though her thoughts may have been furious, Mrs. Higurashi was the epitome of calm. No anger could be detected in her words as she calmly reprimanded the bubbly woman.  
  
"MY NAME IS HIGURASHI!! HIG-UR-ASH-I!! IS THAT SO HARD FOR YOU TO GET YOU PSYCHO BI-"  
  
Just then the file mound moved. ReceptionistsentfromSatan rolled off of the highest paper hill and took off the headphones she had just found. "I'm sorry, did you say something Mrs. Higiyasi? My headphones were just turned up so high.. Did you find something?! Let me see! Are you sure you didn't say anything?"  
  
"-scuit." Mrs. H finished in a defeated tone.  
  
"Hmmm?" Hellbeast was already back to digging.  
  
"Biscuit. I said biscuit. Do you happen to have any?"  
  
"La LA la LA la LA LA LA.. Doot do do do.. Ba bop ba bop.. Biscuit? Now there's something I don't hear every day. Please pass the biscuit?" She giggled as she said the 'b' word. "That's funny. Biiiiscuit. Bissscuit. Biiissscc-"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi was beginning to get the worst migraine of her life. "Yes, yes that's all very well and good. But do you have any?" Any excuse to get away for a while. *Please let her buy it...*  
  
"Any what? Ba ba BA BA!"  
  
The good ol' eyebrow was sure getting a workout today. "Biscuits. Do you have any BISCUITS?!"  
  
Another giggle. "Biscuit. That's a funny word. Biiiiscuit. Bissscuit. Biiissscc-"  
  
*Breathe. Just breathe. Count to ten.*  
  
"1.. 2.. 3.. 4.."  
  
"Why are you talking to yourself? That's wierd. Almost as wierd as the word biscuit. Have you ever noticed how wierd that word is? Biiiiscuit. Bissscuit. Biiissscc-"  
  
"AARGH!" At least she might be able to work things out with her husband without strangling him. *Then again, maybe not.* She thought with a grimace. A final round of 'Bissscuit' was enough to make her decision. She slammed the door on her way out, toppling over several paper stacks and two of those cute little plastic fish.  
  
At the sound of the fish clicking against the tile floor the receptionist finally looked up. She wished she hadn't. Immediately her eyes were met with a horrific sight.  
  
"Noooo!" She wailed. "MY FISHIES!!" She quickly ran over, scooped them into her cupped hands, and rushed them to the last clear spot on her desk. After that crisis was averted, she sat down to think about who could have purposely hurt her precious fishies.  
  
Of course, being that she was the biggest brain in all the batty belfries, she soon came to a conclusion. Some big guy had come in and knocked over her fishies! Then they had run out after doing the dirty deed. It made her heart ache to think that such people existed in this world. But wait, she was forgetting something...  
  
Where was Mrs. Hagusho?!  
  
Oh no.. It couldn't be.. No one could be that mean.. Could they? Could Mrs. H have-  
  
No. She laughed at herself for even thinking that. The Higashi's were such nice people, surely they would never harm a bunch of poor defenseless fishies. But then that meant-  
  
*A big guy must have come in here, knocked over my little fishies, and took Mrs. Hugasha! I must save her! I must-*  
  
Her train of thought was derailed as the light shone off of the little plastic fishies' gills. *Ooo... preeety...*  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
*Finally, I'm out of the nuthouse!" Mrs. Higurashi took a deep breath of fresh air as she stepped outside into the warm sunshine. *Today is a perfect day... Ahhh.*  
  
She soaked up the rays for a few more minutes before getting down to business. *Now where could that family of mine be?* "Inu-Yasha? Inu-baby, where are you and Daddy?"  
  
No answer greeted her. *Maybe he just didn't hear me. If I go around the side of the building they might be able to hear me at the playground.*  
  
She fairly skipped across the parking lot and around the length of the building. *It really is a nice day.. Ohh. Sunshine. It's a good thing. Zippiidee do dah, zippiidee yay. My oh my what a wonderful day. Plenty of sunshine, comin' my way. Zippiidee do dah, zippiidee ya-IIIEEE!!*  
  
For, you see, she had just rounded the corner. Sounds normal, right? Wrong. This was far from normal. This was just-  
  
"Strange."  
  
Mr. Higurashi took the time to look up from his oak tree. "Hi honey! Inu and I were just following orders. Weren't we, son?" He glanced happily down at his aforementioned son, who was in the process of tugging another tree closer to his spot on the ground so he could add it to his growing collection. A sweatdrop formed above his brow. "Aheh heh... Little bugger sure is strong, isn't he dear?"  
  
"Yes. Strong. Sure." His wife answered in a dazed tone.  
  
"Dear?"  
  
She snapped out of her stupor when Inu-Yasha tugged on her skirt. "Ma, can we stop now? We been at it for hours."  
  
Her husband put a hand nervously to the back of his head and chuckled when she glared at him. The look she bestowed on her son was much more tender. "Of course sweetie. You wanna go get some ice cream?"  
  
His golden eyes lit up at the word 'ice', and he was halfway to the car by the time she said 'cream'. "Catch me if you can!"  
  
"I guess that would be a yes..."  
  
Mrs. Higurashi jumped and spun around as her husband's voice rang out from over her shoulder. "You're not mad at me, are you dear? I thought you wanted me to do that. I'm sorry if you didn't. I just didn't want to make you mad. Again. And about last time, I'm really sorry. I DO want a baby girl, but sometimes the money seems so tight. Everything just kind of weighed down on me, and I- But that's no excuse. I shouldn't have fought with you. Please, forgive me?"  
  
He looked like a kicked puppy. How could she deny him? Besides, she forgot what she was mad about anyway. A huge smile stretched across her face as she watched her Inu furiously beat on the locked door. ("ICE CREAM!!") It quickly turned to a frown as she noticed the dents that were forming. That boy was darn strong...  
  
"Sure I forgive you." She said it so fast her words slurred together. "Let's just go get the car before he kills it, o.k?"  
  
Her husband grimaced as one particularly hard hit sent the door flying. ("YAY! ICE CREAM!!") "I think it's a bit too late for that."  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Next Chapter: Inu gets his ice cream (any bets on which flavor?), and a new member of the Higurashi family arrives. (Which means, (hur freaking dur) since Mrs. H. can't have any more babies, that they finally adopt a baby! Yahoo!!)  
  
P.S: I know it's probably more likely that if Mr. and Mrs. Higurashi were Inuyasha's parents, he would have black hair and those lovely purple eyes.... But I LUV him with white hair and golden eyes! With them he's...  
  
*breaks out into song*  
  
He's too sexy for his shirt.... Um, kimono...fire....rat....thing. Too sexy for...it So sexy it...stings a little!  
  
REVIEW!!!!! 


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